Benebit Exit Scam

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Benebit

Benebit ran a large ICO for their loyalty project, based on a large fake team. The website disappeared on January 22nd, 2018, along with between $2.7m and $4m of invested funds. It does not appear that any effort was made to recover the investors.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Benebit

"A global decentralized ecosystem that enables interaction without borders between brands, companies and consumers and is built on Blockchain technology. Benebit is a disruptive network for the cashback and loyalty market based on blockchain technology. The unbeatable social component of Benebit’s model is professionally designed to meet the highest standards of business/consumer interaction for securely storing and exchanging all kinds of user and brand data for the promotion of discounts, special deals, cashback and loyalty programs. Benebit simplifies and introduces a new way for businesses and consumers to interact, which drives traffic, increases loyalty and trust, and enhances convenience and security."

"Benebit used mighty marketing tools and boasted a quality white paper. That was enough to raise millions of dollars through ICO. The feature of their product was merging diverse loyalty programs under their brand. One day it was revealed that all passport data of the company founders is fake. It was the end of Benebit, but unfortunately, the villains successfully disappeared and took the people’s money."

"Earn money back with every purchase and benefit from Cashback and Loyalty Points every time you shop. Start using and redeeming your customer points right away." "An all-in-one platform that creates added value for customers as they shop at their favourite companies as well as increases brand exposure via targeted Loyalty and Cashback Programs." "Expand your customer base and increase sales at low costs with Benebit's consumer behaviour analytics, user data insights and other metrics that build brand trust and loyalty."

"Benebit, a startup with a platform that would convert loyalty and rewards points across multiple retailers and other kinds of businesses into a unified system of fiat currency, is planning to commence its initial coin offering on Jan. 22, according to a company press release."

"Benebit.io disappeared offline on January 22." "Benebit, one of this year’s most hyped ICOs, has pulled an exit scam, making off with a reported $2.7 million of investor funds. Other estimates put the figure as high as $4 million. The fraud only came to light after someone noticed that the team photos had been stolen from a school website. Once this happened, the Benebit team scampered, taking their ill-gotten gains with them. The case is believed to be the largest ICO exit scam to date." "Benebit also had over 9,000 Telegram followers and a positive rating on ICO review websites."

"As of January 22, Benebit is no more: its site is gone and most of its social channels erased, save for Telegram, where bewildered investors are still performing a post-mortem. On paper, Benebit looked legit, having been active on Twitter for over a year and developed a sizeable community. Believers in the project had no hesitation in dipping into their pockets to fund the venture: one claims to have lost 14 BTC and another 300 ETH in the pre-ICO, which was only a day old."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Benebit Exit Scam

Date	Event	Description
January 22nd, 2018	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $4,000,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.